Return to the North California Coast, 2021

We started to narrow down the list of possibilities for an extended anniversary weekend. We’ve been to the top of Hager Mountain and out to the Lost Forest. What would it be this year? Choices are somewhat limited, and although we’d really like to check out a yurt in the mountains of Idaho that will have to wait for another year. How about the wildflower bloom in the California deserts? Well, you need some rain for that. A hike on the Olympic Peninsula? Sort of hard if the trailheads are closed. After lots of thinking and staring at the map we settled on the northern California Coast. We headed out on Friday and made it to the Smith River for our first night. Then it was off through the narrow band of the redwoods on the way to the coast.

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Northern California, 2019, Part 1

We enjoyed our California Road Trip so much in 2016 we decided we needed to revisit a few places on the north coast. The week of Thanksgiving seemed like the perfect time to do it, take 3 days off and have 9 days for a road trip? Sign me up! We headed out of town on Friday and made it to Castle Crags State Park for an overnight. We didn’t have time to linger or explore but it served well for a convenient place to spend the night.

Sunrise on Castle Crags

We were up early and continued our trek south to Anderson Valley.

In 2016 we only had a portion of a day in Anderson Valley and we wanted to spend more time there. We made it our southernmost point on our trip and worked north from there. We arrived with enough time to visit Anderson Valley Brewing for the afternoon. Bear + deer (=beer) abound there. And we were able to get in 18 holes of frisbee golf too. And did I mention it was t-shirt weather (in late November)!

Bear + Deer = Beer welcomes one and all, Anderson Valley Brewing
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